giants and proud of this city. many of them admit they have been celebrating since last night. in fact, some of them came straight here, not even wanting to miss this return. they say this team deserves a hero's welcome for one of the greatest comebacks in major league history. >> you know, i've been a fan for 30 years. and this is probably the most exciting season of being a giants fan. absolutely incredible. >> and i'm just so excited. i love this team. i love all the guys. an it means a lot to me.e he am. ants are s thrled for them. >> couldn't be here last time in 2010. so really stoked to be able to be here to welcome these guys home this time. >> reporter: fans and players will get one day of rest before the big ticker tape parade set for halloween. the mayor says it's quite fitting the team would pick that city to be drenched in black and orange. the parade will start at 11:00

a.m. at the foot of market and end at civic center pla. deep.are packed in at least ten there are hundreds outhe. the players are nting int d it does not appr these fansill dhe same unt the very las player leaves here. live in san francisco, kimberly re, nbc bay area news. >> all rit,imbere, live at the ballpark. what a sce it is. 'll go bk to our nbc cho live shots right no righnow the players are gettineir belongings so of them are ft, se in the cbhouse right now, just packinthgs up. >> the panda, pagan, they all came off the bus and greeted their fans at at&t park. some of them have been there since they won the game last night. so almost 20 hours there they've been waiting at the ballpark for the team to come back home. and they even brought out the trophy to show the fans. and people got pictures. it was a wonderful moment. >> not just the players, but a lot of family members and staff on that giants plane. it's been a wild 24 hours.

they left around 11:30 pacific time this morning, arrived at sfo around 3:45 this afternoon. and now at 5:00, just getting their belongi goi bac their homes,ecause they've got something elseo do on wednesday. >> i know. they're going to be celebrate tovrg next two days. on wednesday we are going to carry the victory parade live right here at nbc bay area. we've got crew members all along the parade route. they are so excited. well can remember two years ago they were on the cable cars going through downtown san francisco. a joyous occasion. >> we'll check back as the story develops throughout the newscast. hurricane sandy has just made landfall in the northeast with sustained winds of 90 miles per hour. we've got team coverage now. but we're going to begin with jay gray. he is live. he is in cape may, new jersey, with the very latest toght. >> reporter: after stalking the eastern seaboard for days, sandy is gaining momentum and taking aim on the jersey shore. >> the storm is not at its apex yet. it's going to get worse between now and the next time i speak to you. >> reporter: in areas it's hard

to believe things could get much worse. debris has been scattered, trees uproot and tossed into homes. floodwaters have already swallowed some roadways. piers have been ripped apart, and water is pushing up against houses. the path of early destruction covers several states, graphic evidence of the size of this storm. 700 miles wide, with hurricane-force winds stretching out 175 miles from the center. more than 50 million people could feel the effects of sandy. >> this is going to be a big and powerful storm. and all across the eastern seaboard, i think everybody is taking the appropriate preparations. >> reporter: sandbags now guard against the water, boards braced for the violent winds, and shelters are secure and ready. thousands of flights have been canceled in many areas. public transportation has been suspended. the time to move to higher ground is all but over in the strike zone, and now there is an ominous warning for those who chose to ride the storm out. >> when it comes in tonight,

we're not going to be able to come in and rescue you. it's going to be dark. electricity most likely be be out, if it's not already, and we're not going to get first responders in to find you. >> reporter: on the edge of landfall, millions now worry about what sandy may leave behind. a lot of people here very nervous what is going on as this storm begins to cross the shoreline in the next few minutes. and look, we've already seen flooding for the last couple of hours. the floodwaters are rising across 11 states, more than two million people are without power. unfortunately that number may go up. and the most unsettling part of all this, janelle and raj is the fact that the worst of sandy is still probably to come as well. live in cape may, new jersey, i'm jay gray. back to you. >> jay gray from right in the middle of all that. we're just learning now in parts of new york city the power has already been turned off. millions of people affected that could go into the 10s of millions in the next 48 hours.

the storm so far, it's not just affecting everyone around the world, but right here at sfo. about 14,000 flights have been canceled according to a flight-tracking website that number will continue to grow. here is the scene now at sfo. long lines. people just trying to find out their status of their flights. many people stranded at the airport. 150 flights in all either didn't take off or didn't land at sfo. and that's just today. and tomorrow is expected to be equally messy. it's not clear when air schedules will return to normal, not just at sfo, but all over the country. meteorologist rob mayeda joins us from the weather center with the latest on the massive storm. >> it is massive storm affect aing most of the northeast. in fact probably two-thirds of the eastern seaboard. and still in terms of wind speed, you're looking at a category 1 hurricane. we had wind of about 80 miles per hour there moving inland, right across the coast there of new jersey. and you can see from tuesday into wednesday, it's just going to kind of hold position. that's a problem for all the rain you see there, flooding

rains are a problem. and look at that. snow to the west flank. hurricanes don't bring snow. so what is going on here? you have a hurricane that is literally right now turning into a classic nor'easter supercharged with tropical moisture. the warm core low now exiting the warm waters offshore of the eastern seaboard, now moving over land, pulling in that cold air from the north, which is going to keep the firepower for this storm going for the next 48 hours. some strong winds already recorded not too far away from where jay gray is on the south coast of new jersey. we're seeing wind gusts of 70 to 80 miles per hour. here is the part we're really watching for you tonight. high tide arriving in the next two hours around long island and parts of new jersey will, see a wall of water pushed by the winds coming in counterclockwise there north of atlantic city of 3 to 6 feet. that is a big-time problem for folks there that have not seen storm surges like that for many tropical systems in many, many years. so this storm, while it will wind down slowly tonight, is going to linger over the eastern seaboard for the next couple of days, which means the flight delays could keep going for some

time. janelle? >> thank you so much. while many commercial flights from the bay area to east coast have been canceled, out of moffett mountainview are still on their way. the 129th rescue wing are going to help the victims of the hurricane. they're using specialized helicopters that can refuel in the air. the 129th is actually taking the lead in conducting whatever rescue operations are necessary on the east coast. overseeing all other agencies. it's one of only three rescue ute fits of its kind in the entire country. and our coverage of hurricane sandy by the way will continue at 5:30 on "nbc nightly news." there are several stories making headlines this evening, this one in the east bay. an emotional scene inside of a courtroom as a jury finds a union city woman guilty of killing 26-year-old nursing student michelle le. nbc bay area's jodi hernandez was inside of that courtroom when that verdict was announced. jodi, this brings a little bit of closure to this high profile case, doesn't it? >> reporter: it certainly does,

raj. and it brings a huge sense of relief to michelle le's family. they sat in the front row, holding hands. and as that verdict was announced, they gasped and began to cry. as they got the outcome they had hoped for. >> i feel like a tremendous burden has been lifted. but we still have to process this. >> reporter: michelle le's loved ones hugged and cried outside the courtroom after a jury found 28-year-old giselle esteban guilty of first-degree murder. esteban nodded her head as if not surprised as the verdict was read. >> we're just happy that justice has finally been served. it felt like yesterday we were going through all of this, and to finally wrap it all up with the right choice is -- is less a burden. >> reporter: the prosecutor argued esteban was jealous over a perceived relationship between her former boyfriend and the

26-year-old nursing student. he played tape recordings during the trial of esteban saying she believed the two deserved to die. >> it's always been my position that she hunted down michelle and she killed her. and either she was going to do it at the parking lot or she was going to do it at her home. >> reporter: esteban's attorney never denied her client killed le, but argued she acted in the heat of passion, and urged jurors to convict her of voluntary manslaughter. but le's family says the jury got it right. >> i know michelle is finally laid to rest in peace knowing that justice is served. >> what really binds it all together is michelle was so selfless and so loving, and always want to help others. and for a soul like that to be taken away is really hard. >> reporter: esteban will be sentenced on december 10th. she faces a sentence of 25 years to life behind bars. reporting live in oakland, i'm jodi hernandez, nbc bay area news. >> jodi, thank you.

still ahead at 5:00, stripped of some scores. local schools are busted for helping students score on standardized tests. and illegal labor? the popular clothing store under investigation for shortchanging its workers. and making your voice heard. what you need to know to make sure your ballot gets counted come election day. and the day started off with a lot of fog, but we're still seeing a pretty warm afternoon inland. numbers close to 80 again in livermore. but we're seeing some changes as we head towards the middle part of the week that could impact both the championship parade and perhaps your halloween evening plans. i'll have a look at that and your seven-day forecast when we come right back. good morning! wow.

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flight from detroit to san francisco as the world series champions arrived just a short while ago. >> and there is bruce bochy, the manager greeting fans and talking to the media at at&t park. they just arrived in the last 20 minutes or so to the park. and they took the time to greet all the fans, some of them who have been waiting for hours out there just to catch a glimpse of the players. >> by estimation, one thousand fans on the ground at at&t park, waiting for about four or five buss to pull in. the giants players, their family members, staff members of the front office, the whole giants organization coming back and just now probably leaving the ballpark as we speak. >> and bochy said i heard in one of the introduce he was just going to celebrate over the next couple of days, and then get ready for the giants victory parade on wednesday. >> and we will see them 11:00 a.m. wednesday there is pablo, the panda, once again popping up out of the flight. well, two titles in the past three years. the giants really flirting with the dynasty here. and accolades as expect ready pouring in. the team will be featured on this week's cover of "sports

illustrated" magazine. in fact, here is a little preview of it. it reads "the giants win the series, the giants win the series." a variation of one of baseball's biggest moments as russ hodges called the shot around the world when he said the giants win the pennant. the magazine hits newsstands on wednesday. police arrested dozens of people after world series celebrations got out of hand with vandalism and violence. most of the 36 arrests came in the mission district where people lit dumpster fires and spray painted buildings. this morning cleanup was under way as store owners surveyed the damage. they saw graffiti, store windows smashed. some in the crowd hurled bottles at police. there were reports of minor injuries. and be sure to stay with nbc bay area, especially on wednesday. we're going to have live coverage of the celebration parade on air and online at 11:00 a.m. decision 2012 just eight

days before this election, and hurricane sandy is forcing a temporary suspension of this presidential campaign. president obama canceled campaigning in florida and wisconsin and flew back to washington to coordinate the federal hurricane response. mitt romney also canceled events in wisconsin, iowa, and florida. neither campaign wants to appear insensitive, so many americans in harm's way. but the weather delay doesn't help romney. >> if it benefits anybody, it probably benefits the president because he gets to look presidential because he is the president. he is in charge of the government and in charge of that response. >> romney's campaign is thinking of sending him to new jersey later this week, where he could meet with storm victims and with governor chris christie, a romney ally. in just over a week you will be asked to decide who should be president. and you may have already cast your vote in the comfort of your own home. but did your vote count? nbc bay area's marianne favro is here in the newsroom with a look at a simple mistake people make that could get their mail-in

ballot kicked out. >> reporter: the most important mistake is people forget to sign their ballot envelope. so far 179 mail-in ballots have been kicked out because of that. people make other mistakes too that prevent their votes from counting. in santa clara county, the mail-in ballots are already pouring in. 133,000 so far. an estimated 72% of all registered voters in the county are expected to mail in their ballots. but unfortunately, they won't all count. >> inconsistent, and we cannot determine that that signature from the voter, we would deny that person and that vote ballot would not be counted. >> reporter: this machine takes a picture of each signature and county staff compares it with the one when the voter registered. if they don't match, they're challenged and a manager makes the final decision. so far 416 ballots have been challenged. other mistakes people make? >> if a family is voting, make

sure you get your envelope and you sign the envelope with your name on it. i've seen lots of times where husband and wife are not paying attention and sign other envelopes. >> reporter: the most important thing is getting the ballot in on time, which is what peter did today when he hand-delivered his mail-in ballot. >> the mistakes are high. the issues are very important. >> reporter: if you want to vote by mail in santa clara county, make sure you submit an e-mail request to do that by:00 tomorrow night. check this out. voters in santa clara county can go to secvote.org and download a special app which will tell you whether the county has received your ballot and whether it has been counted. marianne favro, nbc bay area news. >> interesting. thank you. let's bring in our meteorologist rob mayeda. so much is happening as we speak right now, rob, with what is happening in new york and new jersey, really that whole eastern seaboard. >> we've been watching that very closely in terms of the changes we're seeing on the east coast. meantime, on the west coast, it's actually pretty nice. we've had a gorgeous afternoon inland, now towards the

tri-valley. this after pretty thick fog this morning. the places at seeing the low clouds across the san francisco bay. as we look out to san francisco, you can see the giants flag looking really nice atop the building. notice the direction of the flag, showing you we've got the sea breeze at work, starting to push in cooler marine air that is going to add more moisture to the bay area tonight. as the sunsets, it means fog will be locally thick heading towards tomorrow morning. as we take a look at some of the wind speeds. right now you're not seeing too strong of a sea breeze. in fact you're seeing the opposite. still a offshore breeze there. that's the reason why we saw low inland 80s around pleasanton and livermore. that's about to change as the temperatures drop off a little bit come tomorrow. so that's a look at the low clouds right now. up and down the coast, even down to santa cruz we've got some low clouds right near the water. but the rain-producing clouds still off to the north. that's about to change. this next weather maker that is going to come in for us is going to be on wednesday as a dip in the jet stream forms right across northern california. that's going to allow this system starting wednesday to bring in some clouds.

but some good news. from 24 hours ago, we're thinking now that this system will hold off for the better part of wednesday, then arrive more towards wednesday night. let's look at the futurecast for what you can expect for tomorrow. patchy dense fog through 8:00. the afternoon clearing skies, hazy sunshine inland and still low clouds out on the coast. wednesday, though, let's jump ahead and take a look at that forecast. the timing of the rain. here is the parade's start time. 11:00. you've got clouds, but the rain is way off in the north bay, heading towards halloween evening. look at this into the north bay. you're still seeing some rain there but most of the bay area apparently should be dry south of san francisco through 8:00. and then by 11:00, the rain does quickly sweep on in. so we'll have rain arriving before midnight around the bay area. but the all important thing is on wednesday looks like it's not going to get here before 8:00 in the evening. so early halloween plans and a championship parade looking pretty good. 40s and 50s outside tonight. patchy dense fog the main weather concern for tomorrow. highs mostly in the low 70s around san jose.

near 80 around pleasanton. 78 degrees in livermore. san francisco cool, 67 degrees. 76 in santa rosa. and 70 in oakland. so a few more clouds coming in for tuesday. and then wednesday rain arriving mainly after midnight for most places in the south bay. and that rain will carry over to thursday. we're going get a rainy start to your thursday morning. and then after that, that is the one system for the week we're going to clear out and warm up as we head towards next weekend. so encouraging changes in our weather. it does look like the system is going to hold off both for the championship parade and also for most of our halloween trick-or-treat plans. >> you just made a lot of people smile. >> good job, rob. >> thanks, rob. still to come, the real cost of kicking the habit. the new numbers of just how much quitting smoke asking add to a woman's life span. affordable clothes, but a at what cost to the workers? a popular retailer under a federal investigation.

we want to show you some great pictures on our nbc bay area facebook page.

we've got sergio romo right there, holding the world series trophy. and you can see more and share your own just by liking us on nbc bay area news on facebook. two bay area elementary schools are among 23 in the state which have been stripped of their standardized test rankings after some irregularities. one of the schools, fairwood elementary in sunnyvale self-reported the incident to the state in may, realizing when the teacher looked ahead in the test booklet and taught an imimpromptu lesson on the subject. and a fifth grade teacher kept charts and reference materials posted in the classroom during the six days of testing. in health matters, another reason to quick smoting. it can extend your life by ten years. a study of more than one million women finds those who were able to kick the habit by age 30 avoided 97% of the excess risk of premature death. the health risks for those who

continue to smoke after age 40 were ten times bigger. because women born around 1940 were the first generation to smoke, doctors are finally able to see the full extent of the lifetime effects of smoke. a trendy clothing store called forever 21 is being accused of operating sweatshop conditions. the labor department said they uncovered conditions of significant violations, those include minimum wage, overtime, and recordkeeping by vendors supplying the los angeles retailer. forever 21 has refused to comply with the subpoena to provide backup documents. steps are now being taken to make them cooperate. >> and we'll be right back.

now we want to take a look at what is coming up next on nbc bay area news. >> jessica aguirre is here with

the rundown. >> from the price of the pump to politics, sandy is causing chaos all across the country. at 6:00 a hollywood starlet in a very public breakup, silicon valley style. jessica alba is dumping apple, and that is making waves for window. those stories and our continuing coverage of the giants' world series run when i join you at 6:00. >> we'll see you then. >> the big victory parade on wednesday. how is the forecast? >> the pressure is on. things looking better. actually, as we take a look at the forecast, we're going to call it ghostly clear for the morning. party cloudy. >> party cloudy. >> been consulting with brian wilson there. at 3:00, things dry, no rally rain. >> party cloudy. we'll see you at 6:00. >> good night. [ male announcer ] pillsbury grands biscuits.

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